A Dream Come True..

I started learning Spanish in earnest around 1994 or 1995. I had always been interested in Spanish and tried to pick some up when I lived in San Diego. But it was not until I started working with Latinos everyday that I decided to take classes.

I always wanted my level of Spanish to get to a point where it was more than just being able to be polite, make a joke, or flirt with Latina waitresses to get better service and more Guacamole. I had been increasing little by little in my skills, mostly by doing two things, being obsessed with all things Spanish, and speaking to anyone in spanish any time I could, even if I knew I would sound foolish or like a preschooler.

What's amazing is I came to find out that going to school alone will not make you a better speaker. Without diving in and babbling away, you will never become proficient.

It's always been my dream to be able to speak to a group of Latinos totally in Spanish, without an interpreter and know that they understood me. That would mean that I had really accomplished something. Well, that dream came true this last weekend when I went down to see my family in Cincinnati.

My sister Kathi and brother-in-law Dale are the pastors of Love and Faith Christian Center. They have a Latino ministry called Amor Y Fe that meets once a month to minister to the needs of the Spanish speaking members of the congregation. I was invited to speak at this service for 35-40 minutes. I was very scared at first and thought about not even doing it, but then I remembered the other times that I had stepped out in faith when I was not sure if I could do something or not and it always worked out.

The service went very well, and we all had a good time. I spoke about Psalm 103, and how "Dios conoce nuestra condición"-how God understands our human condition with all of it's weaknesses and frailties and still loves us and wants to bless us.
Click here if you want to read my notes-but it's all in Spanish..

The people were wonderful, and they told me that they understood it all. They laughed at my lame jokes, and some of them cried in several places. We had a time of prayer afterwards and several people responded for prayer. I hope I get to do this again, it was a great experience.